September 19, 2023 Two AFS Logistics Execs Awarded As Key Female Leaders

Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Analytics Officer honored for contributions, thought leadership and mentorship of other women.

ATLANTA – AFS Logistics announces Chief Commercial Officer Melissa Somsen and Chief Analytics Officer Mingshu Bates as winners of the 2023 Women in Supply Chain award presented by two industry publications, Supply & Demand Chain Executive and Food Logistics. This marks the second consecutive year in which Bates was named to the list and the first time Somsen, who joined AFS in 2022, has received this award.

“Both Mingshu and Melissa are stellar examples of leadership in the logistics industry and at AFS Logistics,” said Tom Nightingale, CEO, AFS. “Melissa has a deep understanding of customer needs and drives relentlessly for successful win-win outcomes – she is a role model for her entire team,” added Nightingale. “Mingshu likewise empowers our customers by turning data into insights that affect positive changes for their business while simultaneously helping AFS be a thought leader in the industry. These two women have had a tremendous impact on AFS, to the benefit of each customer and team member they interact with, and are incredibly deserving of this recognition.”

At AFS, Somsen has prioritized syncing the sales, marketing and account management teams to work as a unified commercial team. This effort helped enable growth that landed AFS on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Somsen has worked in the logistics industry for more than 30 years, including 28 years at UPS, where she worked her way up from an account manager to Vice President of Enterprise Sales. There, she won a UPS Innovation Award and became one of the first people from outside the company’s supply chain division to be invited to their supply chain mentorship program. Since joining AFS, Somsen has started a mentorship program of her own, designed to help account managers work their way to more senior positions with the support of weekly calls and regular one-on-one coaching.

Bates’ work at AFS delivers real-world business value for clients and internal teams, and her leadership has helped spark the careers of promising logistics professionals at every stop in her journey. The work of Bates and her built-from-scratch team also contributes to the industry at large with the quarterly TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index, which has appeared in trade publications and in major news outlets including CNBC, Bloomberg, CBS MoneyWatch, CNN and The New York Times. Bates led her team of analysts and data scientists to harness the power of data, which they use to advise customers on optimizing transportation costs or solving network challenges. She is also a strong advocate for data democratization, enabling organizations to gain valuable insights into their business and achieve efficiency gains.

AFS, which is 56% women, has been consistently recognized as one of the Top Companies for Women to Work for in Transportation in the last few years.

About the award
The Women in Supply Chain award honors female supply chain leaders and executives whose accomplishments, mentorship and examples set a foundation for women in all levels of a company’s supply chain network.

About AFS Logistics
AFS Logistics helps more than 1,800 companies across more than 35 countries drive sustained savings and operational improvements, while turning their logistics operations into competitive, customer-centric differentiators. As a non-asset based and non-asset biased 3PL, AFS provides a range of logistics services, featuring freight and parcel audit, parcel cost management, LTL cost management and transportation management, which includes freight brokerage and freight forwarding. Founded in 1982 and employing a team of more than 380 logistics teammates in eight major locations across the U.S. and Canada, AFS is regularly part of the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies. To learn more, visit www.afs.net.

AFS contact:
Anna Claire Stevens
AFS Logistics
318.548.0413
astevens@afs.net

Media contact:
Dan Gauss
Koroberi
336.409.5391
dan@koroberi.com

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